~one~

I was going to do a Small Success post yesterday, including how we’re doing better with our homeschool schedule, but we had to make a second trip across town to the orthodontist when part of my 13 year-old’s hardware came loose. Instead of buckling down for school in the afternoon, we wound up driving across town right after lunch, then running the other errand I had right afterwards.

We did some schoolwork, but not as much as I had hoped to get to. I suppose any amount that got done should be counted as a success, but I just can’t see it that way.

*sigh*

~two~

Last night, Nathan and I went for a trail run (my first!) at an event that’s hosted by a local brewery each week. People meet up at the brewery, then everyone runs roughly 3 miles (just a quick out-and-back on the trail), then most people stay and have a beer or buy food from the food truck(s) that come by for the event.

It was my first group run, too. We sort of milled around, waiting to get started. Then a man came out and gathered everyone on the trail and said, “Who’s new? [hands up from a few of us] Okay…this is easy. We go out about 1.5 miles, turn around, and come back. It’s all on this trail. Can’t get lost. Have fun!” Then he took off running.

My normal run is usually 5 minutes or so of walking to warm up, so imagine my surprise when Nathan started running right away! I thought, “I can do this!” and I started running, too.

I ran the whole thing, and I could have kept going to get the PR I was on my way to for 5K run-time! I also wound up hitting a milestone on Nike+.

We hadn’t discussed running more than the rest of the group, or going past the brewery on the way back to hit 5K, though, so we stopped, then walked for a few minutes to cool down before we went home again. (We had to get both girls to choir practice at the parish.) But we are definitely doing this again, and we’ll do 5K next time.

~three~

My older daughter told me she wants to be an actress. She’s been going to drama camps every Summer for the last 3 years, and on Monday I dropped her off to audition for a play being done at another parish. She has a really good chance of getting a decent speaking role in the play!

There’s also an open casting call across town for a movie that’s going to be filmed nearby. That’s Saturday afternoon/evening, and Nathan will be bringing her to that. Today I have to take a headshot of her and get that printed off at Sam’s Club so she can take it with her tomorrow. She’s working on memorizing a monologue, too, so she’ll have a couple of different ones that she can do.

~four~

This deserves its own take:

The monologue she wants to memorize is from Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, which she saw for the first time the other night. Both girls were properly impressed with the great Katherine Hepburn, but when she performed this particular bit, my older daughter started freaking out! “You HAVE to find that on IMDb and send it to me! I MUST MEMORIZE THAT!”

Being the dutiful mother I am, I pulled it up on my phone and sent it to her right then. She’s been practicing it since then, and I really do hope she gets it down. It’s one of my favorite moments in the film.

Christina Drayton: [to her assistant, Hilary, in the driveway] Now I have some instructions for you. I want you to go straight back to the gallery – Start your motor – When you get to the gallery tell Jennifer that she will be looking after things temporarily, she’s to give me a ring if there’s anything she can’t deal with herself. Then go into the office, and make out a check, for “cash,” for the sum of $5,000. Then carefully, but carefully Hilary, remove absolutely everything that might subsequently remind me that you had ever been there, including that yellow thing with the blue bulbs which you have such an affection for. Then take the check, for $5,000, which I feel you deserve, and get – permanently – lost. It’s not that I don’t want to know you, Hilary – although I don’t – it’s just that I’m afraid we’re not really the sort of people that you can afford to be associated with.

[Hilary opens her mouth to say something]

Christina Drayton: Don’t speak, Hilary, just… go.

Want to see Hepburn do it? Of course you do.

~five~

Last Friday, my 13 year-old came to me and showed me that her ear was infected. Not the inner ear, but her piercing. Since it’s been just over a month since she got them done at all, this isn’t something we can leave out while it heals up. Thank God for the internet! I did a quick search to see if we could handle this ourselves or if we needed to go to urgent care for it. I found this site, which confirmed that, yes, the icky pus and swollen lobe and blackish-purple color did signify an infection. And it gave detailed instructions on how to care for it, too!

We’ve followed the instructions and her ear is much better. We’re down to cleaning it 1-2 times a day, and it’s not painful or swollen any more. I suspect I’ll be able to stop all the extra care by Monday.

The internet is a wonderful thing, you know. That saved us hours of sitting in urgent care, and probably $30 for the doctor to tell us to do what I did with things I already had in my home!

~six~

I was all excited about the possibility of being done with a dreaded term paper for our 15 year-old that’s leftover from last year. She worked all Summer on it, but it looks like we have some re-writing to do. I’m feeling discouraged, and am honestly fed up with it. It might not be so bad if I had learned how to write papers the way Seton wants it done, but I was never really taught how to write papers. I was told to research and then write, and that was it. I’m sure Seton would never have passed me with the way mine rambled on, too.

Anyway, my point is that I am ready to give up and let my daughter take a GED and drop out to avoid this stupid paper. She’ll be 16 in less than a month, so that’s cool, right?

Story of My Life These Days

Yeah, that’s not happening. She’s been working on it again, and, really, there’s nothing I can do to help her as she re-writes, but I did share some tips that my English-major, grade-ahead-of-me-with-Seton, all-around-awesome friend (hi, Lisa!) passed along to help her pull it together.

~seven~

This isn’t new, but I wanted to draw attention again to the HelpNasara.org site. Even though it’s not top news any more, there is still some major persecution happening in the Middle East. ISIS is still on the march, and they still want to extinguish Christians from their territory. Funds raised when people purchase the magnets or stickers from Help Nasara go to organizations that have been on the ground in the area since before the current crisis began.

Magnets and stickers are only $3.50 plus a small shipping fee, and more than half of the money goes to charity. (As a side note, Help Nasara is funded by a small group, and they are not covering their costs first, then donating later. They’re setting aside money from each sale. They’ve raised over $200 in the last month and have already sent donations out.)

If you or anyone you know might be interested, please pass this information on. Nothing would make me happier than to see them sell out of merchandise.